Nostalgia in Lieu of Substance: ‘A Handheld History’ Plays It Safe
Good looks can’t save the book A Handheld History: A Celebration of Portable Gaming from being a trivial account of video game history.
Luis Aguasvivas
Luis Aguasvivas (aguaspoints.bsky.social) is a writer, researcher, and member of the New York Videogame Critics Circle. He covers game studies for PopMatters. Other writings at aguaspoints.com.
Prepare to Get Slayed and Played by ‘Vampire Survivors’
Vampire Survivors‘ time-sucking qualities reveal the insidious aspects of the best video games and what players want from them.
‘Sundial’ Is Noname’s Contribution to the Current Golden Era of Rap
On Sundial, Noname raps like her voice is holding the sky from falling. Love of oneself and one’s community is a struggle front and center on the album.
The “Roll” of Life in ‘We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie.’
We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie is as accessible as it is attractive. Its bright art style and jubilant music make the gameplay deliriously uplifting.
The Fun of “No-Fun” in ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’
The creators of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have created a video game worthy of Kant’s maxim, “have the courage to use your own intelligence.”
‘Sink: A Memoir’ Shuns Respectability Politics
Sink is more than an ethnographic memoir. It’s a harrowing glimpse into an omnipresent but often unseen Americana.
How Pokémon and Japanese Media Created a Generation of ‘Monster Kids’
In Daniel Dockery’s Monster Kids Pikachus usher the pandemonium of Pokémania into the US, but his account of the phenomenon leaves readers wanting more.
Cultural Self-Aggrandizement Has Us Playing Games of Oppression
In Playing Oppression, scholars Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson lay bare the colonialist origins of board games.
Too Powerful to be Merely Entertainment: Video Games and the Work of Nicholas O’Brien
Video game designer Nicholas O’Brien creates and curates in a medium starving for critical conversation.
Glee and Melancholy in Drnaso’s Graphic Fiction ‘Acting Class’
In our age of constant performance, Nick Drnaso’s work of graphic fiction, Acting Class, is not an escape, it’s hyperreality.
Nintendo Makes Binge Eating Fun in Kirby’s Dream Buffet
Nintendo’s multi-player Kirby’s Dream Buffet is a playful indulgence for those with a big appetite for quick, colorful, and approachable games.
How Moebius’ Psychedelic Fantasy / Surrealist Art Influenced Video Games
French artist Jean Giraud, aka Moebius, inspired his peers and mass media. In video games especially, his psychedelic fantasy/surrealist art may live on forever.